You Can't
by Puzzlingly Delicious
Summary: All Hikari artwork has life, and it's Satoshi's job to end that life. But can he really bear the fact that his destiny is to murder?


**Disclaimer: Not me, not you, her. Don't own, never will.**

**A/N: _This is Krad thinking _**and _this is Satoshi thinking_

**You Can't**

by Puzzlingly Delicious**  
**

_The Hikari made many pieces of breathtaking art. They were so beautiful, some might say they had this aura—as if they were…enchanted. The art was so lifelike, so realistic. It was like…magic. But it wasn't like magic. It _was _magic. And somehow…that magic became life. And the Hikari art became alive._

_But something went terribly wrong. The art, piece by piece gaining life, started going...wrong. They were alive, yes, but they started to do terrible things; wrecking things and destroying places. Then the Hikari decided…they had to kill their art. It was hard—it was like killing their own children, it was like eating their young. But they had to do it…or else their "children" would destroy the world._

_There was another side to this creator-art war. The Niwa clan started to intervene. They had an idea that if they deactivated the art before it could come to life, then it couldn't go wrong. It wasn't even alive if it was deactivated. But that took a lot more time, magic, and skill. Any Hikari could just kill the art, instead of training to learn how to deactivate it. So the Hikaris kept with their method, while the Niwa clan stuck with theirs. _

_Until finally, the Hikari made an ultimate hunter…one that could destroy many pieces of art effortlessly. This creation, too, was a piece of art, and would be destroyed in the end. But as usual, something went wrong. This piece of art had too much power—and the Hikari lost control. Then, it split into two different identities. One had white wings, one had black wings. One stayed with the Hikari, one became tamed by the Niwa. And those two identities will battle until the end of their time._

_What I can't explain, however, is how I became a Hikari. Why I was plagued with this curse—why couldn't it have been someone else…? Why did _I_ have to suffer so much because of a goddamn mistake my ancestors made? And I was the sacrifice that would end it all—the last Hikari. Yes…that's me. And I was fated to die in the end…after murdering the last art piece, and the last art piece murdering me.

* * *

_

"In case you didn't know," said the icy voice of Satoshi's "father" over the phone, "Dark plans to steal the famous Hikari artifact; Dagger of Shadows."

"I know," Satoshi replied, his voice-in-the-morning crackling a little. He hung up. Wow, that'll show _him_. Satoshi ran a hand through his sky-blue hair and rubbed his eyes. Maybe he should start drinking coffee…he was beat. He was working insane hours, not to mention Krad was sapping life away from him every time he transformed. At least workaholics got some sick buzz out of it; Satoshi was not—and never would be—a workaholic, though.

He pulled on his uniform shirt and fastened a belt onto his uniform pants. Satoshi didn't even look in the mirror—even though he was as sexy as ever (not that he really cared about his looks). He put his glasses on (even though he doesn't need them), grabbed his backpack and ran out the door. His chauffeur was awaiting him outside the door. Satoshi got in the jet-black BMW, slammed the door shut, and started reading his notes on Dark, even though reading on the car made his head spin, _Satoshi_ had to defeat Dark. Not Krad. His chauffeur, quite used to this, drove on.

When the car stopped, Satoshi didn't notice. He was too busy taking notes on his notes. His chauffeur quietly coughed, which startled Satoshi. Not embarrassed in the least, Satoshi departed the car and actually gave a careless wave to the driver—not looking at him, of course, but kind of just a flick of the hand. Which was a wave, for Satoshi-sama, the chauffeur knew.

"Hiwatari-kun!" a crowd of fan-girls cooed. "Hiwatari-kun is here!"

_Do they expect me to blow kisses at them or something? Why the hell do they do this every single morning?_

"Oh-my-god!" squealed a random girl Satoshi vaguely recognized as someone in his class. "It's _Hiwatari-kun_! Risa—Risa, come here! It's Hiwatari-kun! I want to ask him out—can you come with!"

"Kyouka," Risa said haughtily, "Come _on_! Hiwatari-kun's in our class, you can drool over him later!"

"No! You come on! Now!" argued Kyouka. She was pulling Risa's arm in Satoshi's direction, and Risa was pulling her arm in the direction of the school doors, when suddenly, a high-pitched fan-girl scream startled Risa and she stopped pulling. Then, Kyouka, pulling too hard, fell backwards, still holding onto Risa's arm, which flung Risa into Satoshi, and knocking his glasses and backpack off.

For a split second, Risa stared up at Satoshi Hiwatari—without his glasses. Risa stared up at him. Satoshi stared in her eyes for a moment, and then grabbed his glasses and backpack and held out a hand for Risa. She took it, and stood up, still staring, until he put his glasses back on, which is when she snapped out of it. She was about to apologize, but Satoshi took off before she could say anything.

* * *

During class, Satoshi was still poring over his notes on Dark. His icy blue eyes scanned every line, absorbing everything. He _had_ to defeat Dark…_he_ had to. His eyes were a tired, but he didn't care. He was just about to figure out how to use the Dagger of Shadows against Dark…. 

"Hiwatari-kun," said his teacher briskly, "Tell us the answer."

Now Satoshi may be a child prodigy, but if he doesn't know the question, he won't know the answer. He's a genius, not a psychic. And so, he sat there, stumped, not knowing what to say.

"1946," whispered the flame-haired boy sitting behind him. Satoshi tried to act as if he hadn't heard this, and he repeated the answer. Satoshi reminded himself to thank Daisuke later that day. Then he reminded himself _not_ to get that close to anyone.

He popped open his binder full of notes, some printed off the computer, others jotted down during classes. He examined ancient snippets about the Dagger. It seemed that it needed darkness to touch it…but was that all? Satoshi continued to ponder. It was lunchtime, so Satoshi chose to sit outside, on a tree stump, behind several trees, where no one would bother him. Or so he thought.

"Ouch! Ugh!"

Satoshi's head whipped up to the sound of the noise. Risa Harada's hair was caught on branches of an overhanging tree. Had she come to see him? There was no one else there. She hadn't noticed he had noticed. He treaded silently (although a normal person's footsteps would have made noise on the dead leaves that layered the ground) to her. He stared at her situation, wondering if he should help. But he didn't have to wonder.

"Ah! Satoshi-kun!" yelped Risa, noticing him. So he was Satoshi-kun to her now? But what did that matter? Satoshi shook it off him, and hesitated a little (he was far enough to pretend he didn't hear her). But then his decent-human-nature took over. He turned around and walked silently toward her, and got it off the bush easily.

"Um, thank you, Sa—uh, Hiwatari-kun," Risa said, and Satoshi wondered blankly why she didn't call him Satoshi-kun again. But he didn't really care. "And I also wanted to, um, say thanks about earlier today for helping me up." She said this all rather quickly and nervously, and rushed off. Satoshi stared as she gave a quick wave and walked away, to her awaiting posse. Satoshi went back to reading.

Yet he was still thinking about Risa's thanks.

* * *

The following evening, Satoshi had already come up with a plot. Well actually, it wasn't really a plot. He had a plan, but he still didn't know how to fully operate the Dagger of Shadows. It was crucial in his plan…and…he didn't know whether if it would hurt Daisuke or not. The Dagger of Shadows…Satoshi still didn't know the nature of its power, but he knew he needed to get Dark to touch it to activate it. But that seemed much too easy. There had to be more. 

Satoshi positioned himself unseen behind a large pillar near the Dagger of Shadows display. And hour or two ticked by, as Satoshi checked his watch about every three minutes. Suddenly, there came a swooshing noise. Dark was here. Satoshi could hear his silent-to-a-normal-person footsteps edging nearer to the display. Satoshi hoped Dark couldn't hear him breathing….

"Gotcha!" whispered Dark excitedly. He had the Dagger of Shadows clutched in his hand, a triumphant gleam in his eye. _Not for long_, thought Satoshi. Satoshi came out of nowhere with a flying kick, aimed at Dark's hand. Dark calmly sidestepped him, which Satoshi had already calculated. As he was whizzed by Dark, he grabbed the Dagger. Dark's eyes widened a little, and he turned to Satoshi.

The Dagger wasn't activated.

"D-Damn!" muttered Satoshi under his breath. What made it work? He didn't have much time…Dark would get it soon. Dark had an over-inflated ego, but he wasn't stupid. Dark was onto his plan…probably why he lunged at Satoshi.

Satoshi dodged it, and ran. He mentally went through his notes in his head…_The Dagger of Shadows...created to try and slay more art, but eventually they lost control…and it was like a real shadow…it needed darkness to exist... _Suddenly it came to him—like a real shadow. That meant darkness…and light. Dark is the darkness and…he realized. And Krad was the light. _**Let me take over, Satoshi-sama... **Like hell I will! **But Satoshi-sama…don't you want to activate the Dagger? **S-Shut up! I'm not turning into you!_

Satoshi narrowly dodged a grab from Dark, and he backed up into a wall. He quickly shut and opened his eyes in frustration—what now? He couldn't let Krad go out, but he couldn't let Dark get it…and there was no way he could "kill" the art without reawakening it….

_What's the point?_

_What's the point of this? This is hell. My life is hell on earth. I could just kill myself—who else gives a damn about the Hikari-Niwa curse? I could just end it…right here…with this goddamn dagger that'll only go to Dark anyway. _

_"You can't kill them. You'll never be able to."_

_I can't? I can and will kill them...not that there's a point to it. That's what I have to do. Kill the artwork before they harm others. And then, the final piece will kill me. That's right; Krad. All these centuries…have come to me. I finish the job, and the blood of the Hikari—the cursed blood—will be forever lost. And the rest of eternity will not suffer. That's my destiny…a killer, only to be punished by what I've killed. _Strangely, Dark's words started to echo in his mind.

_"You can't."_

_I can._

_"You can't."_

_I can…!_

_"You can't…you're not a killer, Satoshi."_

_

* * *

_

"I—I…_can't_…" Satoshi closed his eyes, his eyes stinging. He stared up hatefully at Dark, his icy eyes suddenly sparking with blue flames. "Take it." He hurled the dagger at Dark's face—knowing he would catch it. Satoshi's head was down, staring at the floor, his fists clenched in fury.

"…Take it?" Dark repeated softly. A gleam of Daisuke flashed in his eyes. Dark stayed rooted to the spot—if he went forward, it meant he was actually helping the blue-haired adversary. If he ran away, well, Daisuke would _not_ allow it. And even though Dark hated the Hikari with all his heart, he felt a twinge of pity for Satoshi. "I can't let you kill it, Satoshi. Then again…" Dark sighed heavily. "I can't kill _you_."

Satoshi looked up, surprised.

"Daisuke would never let me," Dark said, with a little hint of regret. "And also…I kind of…don't…wanna. Without you around, what fun is stealing? Those cops aren't half as much fun as you are," Dark said with a smirk, which slid of his face when he saw Satoshi's expression.

Dark frowned, and clenched his teeth, as if he didn't want to say something, but he knew he just _had_ to right now. He hesitated, and then said, "I don't know what we can do about your supposed 'destiny', but you better believe Daisuke's gonna do whatever he can," said Dark, regretting the second he finished the sentence, and added quickly, "even if I'd rather have you and Krad dead."

Satoshi stared right into Dark's eyes, but he knew Dark knew he was staring at Daisuke.

"Thank you," Satoshi said dully, but it was probably as much feeling he could muster at the moment, "for your help."

**_The time is now!_**

_--NO!_

_

* * *

_

But it was too late. Satoshi felt immense pain as Krad erupted from inside, he could feel his hair growing (like something was pulling it), and himself getting taller, and his eyes changing color, and all the other things that one feels with changing into a tall, long-haired, homicidal piece of magical artwork.

The Dagger of Shadows started to emit a very eerie black glow. It had been activated.

_Damn!_

Dark, using common sense, dropped it and stepped back a little.

"Use your powers, Dark," taunted Krad icily. "Or is it because you care too much about dear Daisuke-chan?"

"Shut _up_, Krad," Dark replied, trying to keep the fury in his voice under control. "I don't need my magic to waste _you_."

**_Maybe it's about time I broke out the magic…what do you say, Satoshi-sama?_**

Satoshi didn't say anything. He knew Krad would anyway. He braced himself for the heart-stopping pain that was Krad's magic breaking loose within him. It hurt like hell. But Satoshi didn't make a sound.

Suddenly, Dark ran forward and grabbed the Dagger again, and yelled, "WIZ!" Wiz, the transforming rabbit-like creature, spread its black wings out and jumped on Dark's back. Dark jumped out of and off the building, to many awaiting policemen, anchormen and anchorwomen, and screaming fans.

Krad scowled for a moment, but then regained composure. He too leaped out the window and Satoshi could feel a painful sensation on his back as his white wings spread—no—not _his_ white wings—Krad's. He needed…to regain control. Krad tailed Dark through the sky, deaf to the many gasps of "White wings!"

Dark turned around, his violet eyes on fire. He glared at Krad, and threw the Dagger right at Krad's face. Krad aimed some sort of magical blast of light at the Dagger, and smirked at Dark. It would be killed; Krad never missed.

_"You're not a killer, Satoshi."_

_---NO!_

The only thing the crowd could see was a blinding flash of white light, and Dark swooping out of the picture, rather gracefully, at that. And the white winged figure wasn't even there anymore. But the Dagger soared out of nowhere at top speed, and landed edge-first in the grass. It was completely unharmed, and it wasn't glowing black anymore.

* * *

The following morning, Satoshi ran into Daisuke, who looked very flustered. Satoshi raised one eyebrow, and Daisuke went on a run-on sentenced explanation about last night. Satoshi merely stared. 

"But I want to know—why didn't you kill it?"

Satoshi's eyes widened a little. He could say anything right now; or nothing at all, and just walk away. But it just seemed he had to say it.

"I can't."


End file.
